A New Beginning

by Kevin Ryan

  * * *

  very close to where Kyle's legs were hanging out from

  beneath the car.

  Suddenly Kyle didn't care whether or not Gomer

  thought he had gotten the better of him. Kyle didn't want

  to spend another second under this car with Gomer up

  there.

  Since Kyle was lying on a wheeled cart, he could roll

  out in a second or less, if he rolled toward where Gomer

  was standing.

  He couldn't go the other way, because the transmission

  lift and some other equipment were blocking his way. He

  could try to angle himself and roll out next to the lift. It

  would put the car between him and Gomer when he got

  clear, but that would take several extra seconds at least.

  He decided to just face Gomer. Reaching up, he

  grabbed the underside of the car and pulled, moving the

  cart and himself toward Gomer.

  Then something came down on his leg. It took Kyle a

  moment to process that fact that it was Gomer's foot.

  Kyle's forward motion stopped.

  "Where you going, smart guy," Gomer said.

  Kyle felt his heart sink in his chest, but he was surprised

  by the strength in his voice when he said, "Let go, Gomer."

  Instead, Kyle felt more pressure on his right ankle.

  "What's wrong smart guy? Scared?" Gomer said.

  "This isn't funny," Kyle said.

  Then Kyle heard a click and he immediately knew that

  Gomer had his hand on the lever that controlled the

  hydraulic lift's up-and-down motion.

  "Yeah, I think it's pretty funny. You know, you should be

  careful under there. I don't think these things are safe. If

  * * *

  something happened, you might hurt your smart mouth,"

  Gomer said.

  Then the car lurched down two inches in a sudden motion.

  "Ahhhh!" Kyle said, forgetting completely about his

  dignity. Frantically, he tried to move in any direction, but

  Gomer kept up the pressure on his leg.

  Kyle tried to calculate how much clearance he would

  have between this car and the floor if it dropped to the

  ground. How much damage would the car do to him?

  Would Max be able to fix it? He decided he didn't want to

  find out. "Wait. Let's talk about this," Kyle said.

  "I don't want to talk to you, smart guy," Gomer said,

  then he laughed. The laugh was low and creepy. Kyle

  decided he didn't like it at all.

  Then Kyle heard another click.

  * * *

  11

  Michael heard the shouting from inside the garage. Maria’s

  talk about the kidnappings or whatever was going on in this

  town had gotten under his skin more than he had expected.

  On the other hand, that was true about a lot of things

  that Maria said and did.

  "... much like smart guys ..." Michael heard from

  inside as he passed the entrance to the garage. The words

  didn't exactly make sense, but the tone was very clear.

  Somebody was pretty pissed off.

  Michael debated checking around the back to see if the

  others were all right, but he was confident that Max and

  Isabel could handle most of the trouble they could find in

  this town. Then he remembered that Kyle would be work-

  ing inside the garage. It might pay to check in on him.

  Walking through the large door, he didn't see anyone

  inside at first. Then, three cars down, he saw someone he

  recognized.

  Gomer was standing next to a car, shouting down ... at

  the tire? No, that wasn't right.

  * * *

  Then someone spoke back to Gomer, but Michael

  couldn't make out the words.

  "What's wrong, smart guy?" Gomer said.

  Michael decided he didn't like the tone of Gomer's

  voice and started walking toward him.

  Where was Kyle?

  There was some more back and forth, and Michael

  thought he heard Kyle's voice. Then Gomer grabbed a

  lever, and the car seemed to shake in the air.

  Then he heard a scream.

  Sure that the scream was Kyle's, Michael started run-

  ning. He saw that Gomer had his hand on a lever. And

  then he saw Kyle's legs sticking out, one of them kicking at

  Gomer. When Michael saw the car move downward, he

  realized instantly what was happening.

  When he acted, he did so immediately and without

  thinking. Reaching Gomer, he reached out with one hand,

  grabbed the larger man on the shoulder, pulled him back,

  and then shoved him hard. Michael heard Gomer grunt,

  then fall backward to the ground.

  He was dimly aware of the fact that Kyle was still under

  the car when Gomer went flying. A moment later, Gomer

  was sitting on his butt and looking up at Michael in sur-

  prise. That surprise lasted only an instant and was

  replaced with fury. Well, Michael knew how that felt.

  For someone so tall, Gomer moved quicker than

  Michael would have guessed. Gomer was on his feet in

  seconds and was lunging for Michael. Acting on instinct,

  Michael leaned to one side and grabbed for Gomer's shirt.

  The larger man hit Michael's hip, and Michael used

  Gomer's momentum to toss him back to the ground. This

  * * *

  time, Gomer went down face first in an awkward dive.

  Again, he moved quickly and was soon lurching to his

  feet.

  Too stupid to stay down, Michael thought as a red haze of

  anger descended on him, drowning out all other thoughts.

  A moment later, Gomer charged Michael again. This time,

  Michael met him straight on, launching one punch with

  each fist. His left hit Gomer low, in the ribs, while his

  right, then his left hit Gomer squarely in the face.

  Gomer staggered back.

  A satisfied smile crossed Michael's lips, and he raised

  his hand almost unconsciously. He felt his powers coalesc-

  ing and he prepared to ...

  "Michael," a voice said from next to him.

  Michael ignored the distraction; he was dealing with a

  threat.

  Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. The voice shouted

  this time, "Michael!"

  Turning, Michael saw Kyle standing next to him. Then

  he saw Gomer looking at him, fear clearly on his face.

  "Don't hurt him," Kyle said.

  It took a moment for Kyle's words to penetrate Michael's

  red heat. Then he slowly put his hand back down. "He was

  trying," Michael said, not taking his eyes off Gomer.

  "I was just kidding around," Gomer said, raising his

  hands in a warding-off gesture.

  Michael felt himself relax by small degrees—very small

  degrees. "You think that was funny?" Michael nearly

  shouted.

  Gomer shook his head. "I was just trying to scare him,"

  he said.

  * * *

  Michael balled his right hand into a fist. It was not an

  act of anger, it was calculated, and by the look in Gomer's

  eyes, it had the desired effect.

  "I'm sorry," Gomer said.

  "Don't apologize to me," Michael said, gesturing to Kyle.

  "I'm sorry, Kyle ... I... was out of line," Gomer said.

  "Urn,
apology accepted," Kyle said. Michael noted that his

  friend was out of breath. Kyle must have been pretty scared.

  Michael felt his anger rising again and forced it back

  down.

  "Get out of here," Michael said. Gomer immediately

  turned to go, but not before shooting Kyle a look that

  Michael didn't like.

  "Don't even think about it," Michael said. Then he

  paused for effect. "Remember, I'm everywhere."

  "Okay, okay," Gomer said, walking away.

  Then Michael turned to Kyle and said, "Are you okay?

  You want Max to take a look at you?"

  Kyle shook his head and said, "I'm fine, just a little

  shaken up."

  That's an understatement, Michael thought, looking at

  Kyle's face.

  "Maybe he was just trying to scare me," Kyle said. Then,

  catching Michael's questioning expression, he added, "He

  thinks I'm after the girl in the office."

  "Are you?" Michael asked.

  Kyle smiled and said, "Maybe a little."

  Michael shrugged and said, "I don't think he'll bother

  you either way."

  Kyle gave him a tighter smile and said, "I think you're

  right. Listen, Michael, were you going to . . ."

  * * *

  Michael shook his head and said, "No. I was just kid-

  ding around. You know, trying to scare him."

  That seemed to make Kyle relax. His smile was broader

  now. "Michael, thanks."

  "Sure," Michael said, giving him an uncomfortable shrug.

  "I probably made it worse. It's not smart to bait some-

  one when you're stuck under a car. I'm just tired of taking

  it, you know. I feel like I've been taking it for long enough."

  Michael nodded. He knew how that felt. He, Max, and

  Isabel had been taking it their whole lives. And the group

  had been taking it pretty hard for the last three years.

  "Yeah, I know what you mean," he said.

  "I'd better get back to work," Kyle said.

  Michael turned to go, and Kyle added, "I mean it,

  Michael, thanks."

  "No problem," Michael said, heading out the door.

  Outside, he decided not to go straight back to the oth-

  ers. Instead, he took a walk in the field behind the garage.

  Finding a quiet spot, he sat for a moment. He had told

  Kyle that he wasn't going to really hurt Gomer, but he

  wasn't sure himself what he was going to do.

  In the moment before Kyle stopped him, he felt the

  same rage he had felt in their final battle with Agent

  Pierce—a battle that ended when Michael killed the agent.

  Since then, Michael had told himself a thousand times that

  he had had no choice. His friends' lives and his own life

  had depended on him.

  And the truth was that he had acted in self-defense.

  Yet when he had taken the agent's life, he had not felt

  scared. He had felt angry—furious, actually. And when it

  was done, there was a moment—-just a moment—when

  * * *

  he had felt pleased with what he had done. Pleased that he

  had finally paid back the forces that had been dogging

  him, Max, and Isabel their whole lives. Pleased that he

  finally felt like he had won a small victory for them and for

  himself.

  That moment had caused Michael more sleepless

  nights than the act of killing itself.

  He had also wondered how much of that moment had

  been payback for even more, for his previous life and his

  previous defeats and eventual death. And not just his

  death, but Max's and Isabels.

  He knew Max blamed himself for that failure as well,

  but Michael knew that it had been his job to protect them

  all. After all, he was a soldier, a defender—a general, in

  fact.

  In his fight with Agent Pierce, with Gomer, and many

  other times in his life, he'd felt like something else was

  taking over. What was it? His training? His nature? Or

  something that had been programmed into him when he

  had been re-created and sent to Earth?

  Michael didn't know, but whatever it was, Michael

  didn't like it.

  And it scared him more than a thousand Agent Pierces

  ever would.

  Kyle's hands shook for several minutes after Michael left. He

  hoped Michael hadn't seen how scared he had been. At first,

  he had thought that Gomer was only trying to scare him.

  Although it was a possibility, the possibility dimmed when

  the undercarriage of the car had pressed against his nose—

  and three tons of steel threatened to drop down farther.

  * * *

  But Gomer had looked scared himself when he had left.

  Michael hadn't really hurt him, but he could have—in fact,

  he nearly did. Even Gomer wasn't so stupid to miss that.

  Kyle had to go back under the car to check the seal on

  the transmission. He forced himself to do it quickly

  because he couldn't afford to be afraid in his line of work.

  It took about ten minutes, and Kyle was glad to be fin-

  ished. He moved on to the Plymouth and replaced the

  points and plugs. He finished that quickly, then took both

  cars for a test drive. An hour later, he parked the second

  car outside. By then, his heart had stopped racing and he

  was feeling more or less normal—which was just as well,

  considering what he now had to do.

  Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the office door

  and stepped inside.

  Dawn flashed him her smile, and Kyle felt the last piece

  of cold fear melt away.

  "Hey, you," she said.

  Without thinking, Kyle felt himself smiling back. "Hey,"

  he said.

  She stared at him for a moment. Then Kyle remem-

  bered why he had come inside. "Did Dan leave any

  instructions for me?" he asked.

  "Just a note," she said. Though she held the note in her

  hand, she did not reach out to hand it to him.

  As a result, Kyle had to lean over the desk to take it.

  When his hand reached hers, she pulled the note back and

  Kyle had to lean over farther.

  He lost his balance for a moment and started to fall

  onto the desk. Reaching out with his other hand, he stead-

  ied himself and found that he was inches away from

  * * *

  Dawn. He could even feel her blond hair tickling his

  cheek. He felt her hand on his shoulder and Kyle couldn't

  help taking a deep breath, taking in her scent. Wow, did

  she smell good.

  "Careful there, sugar," Dawn said, not taking her hand

  off his shoulder.

  Kyle got up slowly and returned her smile. Dawn held

  the note out in front of her again, a teasing smile on her lips.

  Just looking at her, Kyle knew immediately that she

  was trouble. Gomer was jealous and bad-tempered. And

  Kyle had a responsibility to his friends to make sure they

  all kept a low profile. Plus, even when he was a Roswell

  High School star athlete he had never gone out of his way

  to seek out trouble off the field. That went double for the

  last two years, when he had become part of the Great

  Alien Secret Society.

  li
ke his friends, he had become adept at avoiding trouble.

  Just two days ago, he would have taken one look at

  Dawn and headed in the other direction. But that was two

  days ago.

  He had changed his life completely in that time. One of

  the reasons he and his friends had hit the road was so they

  could stop hiding all the time. They had started running

  so they could relax a little. It gave them the best chance of

  a normal life. And there was nothing more normal than a

  little lighthearted fun with a pretty girl.

  Reaching out, he took Dawn's hand and held it for a

  long moment before taking the note. "Thanks," he said.

  "Anytime, sugar," she said.

  * * *

  12

  When Michael walked in, Max jumped to his feet. "Where

  have you been?" he asked sharply—more sharply than he

  had intended.

  Michael didn't answer for a moment. Setting his face,

  he said, "Gee, Dad, I guess 1 should have called."

  "Michael, this is serious. People are disappearing right

  and left in this town, and you take off for hours," Max

  chided.

  "Actually, women are disappearing in this town, so I

  think I'm pretty safe. Plus—news flash—I can take care of

  myself," Michael said, holding up his hand. "You know,

  alien-whammy and all that," he added.

  His friend was right, Max knew. He immediately regret-

  ted his tone. And if he knew Michael, things would get

  worse from here. Some combination of his friend's nature

  and the difficult childhood he'd spent with a violent

  drunk named Hank had conditioned Michael's response to

  disagreemtents.

  Max decided to stop the escalating conflict before it got

  * * *

  going. "Michael, it's not that—," he began, but his friend

  waved him off.

  "Forget it, Maxwell. I just went for a walk," Michael

  said. "Next time I'll give you guys a heads up."

  Michael had surprised Max a couple of times in the last

  two days, but this was the biggest surprise yet. There was

  something different about Michael, Max thought, consid-

  ering his friend for a moment. Max saw something in

  Michael's face, but his friend quickly looked away, study-

  ing the changes in the room.

  Something was bothering Michael. Maybe he and Maria